The ALERT Act

The ALERT Act

OUR POSITION: CSS opposes the bill and urges members of Congress to vote against it.

The All Economic Regulations are Transparent (ALERT) Act would delay most rules until six months after they have been posted online by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).

This arbitrary six-month delay would do nothing more than obstruct rulemaking needed to save lives, protect public health and hold industry accountable. Most rules already take years to develop and finalize, with multiple opportunities for public and industry input.

Indeed, the bill’s reporting requirements would ask agencies to duplicate information that is already available at Regulations.gov. These requirements would do little more than create wasteful and time-consuming busywork for chronically underfunded and understaffed agencies.

Note that the bill would require regulators to calculate and post the costs of new rules, but makes no similar demand when it comes to the benefits of those rules or the costs of failing to regulate. This one-sided approach to “transparency” is nothing more than politically motivated cherry-picking of the evidence, aimed at misleading the public.